You just can't believe me
by aaronlisa
Summary: Set during Season Two, Willow's parents are murdered by a vampire.


Title: _You just can't believe me _

Pairing/Characters: Willow Rosenberg, Angelus, Rupert Giles

Rating: FR13

Disclaimer: _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _belongs to Joss Whedon and company. The title comes from New Order's "Confusion."

Notes: Set during Season Two.

Summary: Willow's parents are murdered.

Word Count: 1603

Willow shivers in her too-thin jacket. She can't help but think that perhaps she should have put on something heavier in the morning when she was leaving for school. After all, it's still winter.

A heavy arm wraps around her shoulders. A familiar voice says her name and she turns away from the macabre sight in front of her and presses her face into _his _chest. Instead of soft cotton, her face presses into his silk-covered chest. Before she can pull away, his hand cups the back of her neck, holding her in place.

_Her parents weren't even supposed to be home until next week and now she's being comforted by their murderer. _

"It wasn't me," Angelus quietly states.

If she wasn't so numb she'd dispute his words, she'd remind him about the note with her dead fishes that pretty much promised her a world of hurt if she stayed by Buffy's side. Yet she can't form the words and even if she knows he's not Angel, he still smells like him and feels like him. Not that Willow has much knowledge of that other than the one hug he gave her when she ran from the library after catching Xander and Cordelia kissing. (Before everything turned sour.)

"I'll kill who ever did this," Angelus promises her.

"Why should I believe you?" Willow mumbles against his chest.

He pauses for a moment before answering her and she thinks that it's odd that he's holding her like she's fragile. Like if he lets her go, she'll crumble into shards of broken glass. Isn't that what he wants?

"_If _I was going to kill someone to hurt you darling, it wouldn't be your parents. It'd be the Watcher," Angelus tells her.

"That'd hurt Buffy more," Willow points out.

He lets her move when she squirms out of his hold but he keeps a firm grasp of her hand. He steers her away from the scene of the pieces of her parents' corpses decorating her front yard. The front door is open and before he pulled her away, Willow's certain she saw a body part just on the threshold of her house.

When she shivers again, he drapes his heavier coat around her shoulder.

"Killing Joyce and Dawn would destroy Buffy, killing Giles would just make her angrier." Angelus tells her.

"Why are you telling me this?" Willow asks.

"It's not exactly secret knowledge darling," Angelus tells her. "You can ask her Watcher later about it and he'll tell you the same."

"How do you know this?"

"You think little girls curious about a tall and dark vampire are the only ones to sneak a peak at the Watchers' Diaries that he keeps in the library?"

She chuckles at the thought of Angelus (or maybe even Angel) sneaking into Giles' library to read about Buffy. It'd never crossed her mind to read what Buffy's former Watcher had written about her.

Then she remembers and she feels like the worse daughter in the world. Here she is letting one of the most vicious vampires guide her away from her home when she should be calling the police to report the crime. Not that Sunnydale's finest will be able to figure out who did it. She's better off calling Buffy.

She shivers again. Angelus drapes his arm around her shoulders and she realizes that he's taking her further and further away from her house and her parents. Willow thinks that this should concern her but it doesn't. Right now she feels safer with Angelus than she does anywhere else.

"Why were you by yourself? Where's Buffy or her bumbling white knight?" Angelus finally asks.

"White knight?" Willow asks before she realizes that he means Xander. "I had a fight with Xander at the Bronze and left.'

"For someone so smart, you're not very clever Willow," Angelus tells her.

It hurts far more than it should coming from someone like him. Perhaps it's because it's something that her mother always used to say to her.

"What do you know about me?" Willow asks as she stops walking and pulls away from him.

Angelus sighs. "A lot more than you think and a lot more than you probably want to know."

"Where are you taking me?" Willow demands. "Going to finish what you started at my parents' house?"

Angelus growls before grabbing her by the shoulders. His fingers pinch into her skin even through the layers of his coat and her clothes. She thinks that maybe her mother was right.

"I won't tell you again little girl, I didn't do that to your parents," Angelus snarls.

Willow fearfully nods as the streetlights highlight how golden his eyes have become.

"I'm sorry," Willow breathes out.

He pulls away from her and she thinks that she should run as fast as she can but before she can, he drapes an arm around her and forces her to walk beside him.

She doesn't ask anything else again and he doesn't offer anything more. Their walk is silent and Willow is can almost pretend that this is Angel beside her except Angel has never paid her this much attention before.

Before she knows it they're standing in front of an unfamiliar door. Willow thinks that the courtyard of the apartment building is cute and she wonders why Angelus has brought her here.

The door opens warily and Giles looks at the pair of them.

"What have you done to her?" Giles asks.

"Nothing," Angelus said.

He shoves Willow forward into Giles' arms. The force of it causes them both to stumble backwards into Giles' apartment. There's a part of her that kind of likes how he answered several unspoken questions all at once, even if she's not too happy about being shoved about.

"What's going on?" Giles ask.

"Get her settled and then come out we'll talk."

It's an order and one that Giles surprisingly doesn't disobey. The door closes and Giles sits her down on a comfy couch. Before she knows it a cup of tea is in her hand and Giles has stepped outside to speak to Angelus. Any other time and she'd be afraid but right now she's not. Instead she sets the cup on the coffee table and curls up on the couch, the sound of Angelus' and Giles' voices wash over her. The words don't really make sense and she can't help but think as she shuts her eyes that this is the most surreal dream she's ever had.

A week later and she's making her way to the library. Willow's not overly concerned about cutting classes at the moment. The old Willow would have been horrified but this new Willow can't stand the looks of everyone anymore.

When she enters the library, there's a box with a red bow sitting on the desk. She's curious about it since the box is wrapped in brown paper and the bow just seems to be a rather pathetic attempt at dressing it up.

"It's for you," Giles says to her as he approaches the desk. "I don't know if you wish to open it though."

She ignores the second part of his comment as she approaches it. She pulls off the bow and tears off the paper. There's a part of her that doesn't want to open it. The weight of it is rather curious and heavy in her hands. Yet she can't help herself. This is the first time she's felt curious since_ that _night.

When she lifts the lid off the box it takes her a moment to realize what she's looking at. After all who would send her a box of dust? And then it all clicks together. Giles steps behind her and places a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"He kept his promise," Willow quietly states.

"Buffy must never know," Giles says.

Willow looks up at him sharply. Confusion written on her face.

"No matter what he did for you, Willow, he's still a monster. If we allow Buffy to think of him as having a softer side, she won't be able to do what needs to be done."

It all boils down to one thing: Angelus is a vampire and Buffy is a Slayer. No matter the fact that Angelus has slain the vampires that killed her parents, he still wants to destroy Buffy. Or does he?

Willow can't help but question Angelus' motives. If he knows how to destroy Buffy why hasn't he yet? Buffy hasn't told her mother or her sister about being a Slayer or the fact that a very evil vampire is after her and by default her family. In fact, Angelus has acted more like Angel than what the Watchers' Diaries have painted Angelus to be.

Willow wants to ask Giles if there's another way, a way that can keep Angelus alive. But she suspects that his momentarily kindness is just that momentary. As they dispose of the ashes and the box, Willow can't help but wonder why Angelus is doing this. Why he's acting out of character instead of the murderous monster he's supposed to be.

In the end, the thoughts get pushed away when Giles gives her something to research while they wait for classes to be over for the day. Willow can't deny Giles' words as truth: Buffy can't know this about Angelus. Everything's already too vague and unclear as it is. And even if he didn't kill her parents, there's one thing that Willow's learned from the Watchers' Diaries and that's the simple fact that Angelus isn't Angel. No matter how he acts otherwise.

((END))


End file.
